The Problem With Journalism? Scott Pelley Blames the Internet

When big-time reporters decide to try their hands at media criticism, the results are usually disappointing–but they can also be quite revealing.

So when a video of CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley started to making the rounds, the headlines associated with it piqued my interest. Over at the Weekly Standard, it was “CBS Anchor: ‘We Are Getting Big Stories Wrong, Over and Over Again.'”

Give him points for drama, though. “Our house is on fire,” he warned near the beginning of his talk at Quinnipiac University. The house is the “magnificent mansion that we call American journalism.” And Pelley did say what the headlines suggested: “We’re getting the big stories wrong, over and over again.”

So what are those stories? Pelley specifically points out one: In the aftermath of the Newtown school massacre, he inaccurately reported that the shooter’s mother worked at the school. That was, in his words, “absolutely wrong.”

So why do things like this happen? Well, Pelley attempts to answer by pointing a finger at technology:

Never before in human history has more information been available to more people. But at the same time, never before in human history has more bad information been available to more people.

He moves on to the Boston marathon bombings. “Our nation was attacked by terrorists,” he explains, “and amateur journalists became digital vigilantes.”

“Innocent people were marked as suspects,” he goes on, “their pictures and their names ricocheted all over Twitter and Facebook and Reddit.”

Now we’re getting to the real point. He goes on:

That fire that started on the Internet spread to our more established newsrooms as well. In a world where everyone is a publisher, no one is an editor. And that is the danger we face today.

Editors are the people who decide that some information should be vetted before it is aired. Yes, the existence of the Internet means that rumors can spread faster–but did that really cause CNN to botch a report about a “dark-skinned” suspect, or the New York Post to put a photo of two young men on its cover, falsely suggesting they were suspects in the bombing?

To Pelley, the problem is clear: “Twitter, Facebook and Reddit. That’s not journalism. That’s gossip.”

While that’s a mischaracterization, the problem with journalism isn’t the existence of Twitter; it’s the failure of some journalists to exercise sound judgment.

The idea that the big problem with journalism is that TV networks air breaking news that is inaccurate lets media off the hook. The problem with coverage of the Iraq War was not that reporters listened to Facebook or Twitter, neither of which existed at the time of the invasion; rather, they listened too often to elite sources who were wrong. And they continue to rely on official sources to steer the news agenda.

The Internet, if anything, provides for a way for people to hear from a more diverse set of voices, and to act as a check on big media.

Pelley was right in one respect: The media’s obsession with being “first” on a story, even when that means beating out your broadcast rivals by a few seconds, is a waste of time. True enough–and that’s a problem that is in no way related to the dangers of Reddit.

“Maybe a touch of humility would serve us better, and serve the public better as well,” Pelley declares. No argument there. But then, moments later, Pelley pronounced: “America has the best journalism in the world.” Hey–what happened to humility!

Activism Director and and Co-producer of CounterSpinPeter Hart is the activism director at FAIR. He writes for FAIR's magazine Extra! and is also a co-host and producer of FAIR's syndicated radio show CounterSpin. He is the author of The Oh Really? Factor: Unspinning Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly (Seven Stories Press, 2003). Hart has been interviewed by a number of media outlets, including NBC Nightly News, Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and the Associated Press. He has also appeared on Showtime and in the movie Outfoxed. Follow Peter on Twitter at @peterfhart.

American “exceptionalism” not only in the good things but also the bad things. The USA can kill with impunity and even the paper tiger of the UN will leave them alone. When you can violate any law at home and abroad it paints the USA not only as the most powerful and dangerous rogue nation, but one so full of itself it comes off as a self serving braggart.

NIGHT GAUNT, YOU’VE WELL NAMED YOURSELF. CUDDLY AND WARM. LIGHTEN UP BY READING “THE ONION’S GUIDE TO OUR DUMB PLANET”, WHICH FEATURES ON THE FIRST PAGE OF AMERICA: WHAT ELSE? MCDONALDS AND CALLS US “LAND OF OPPORTUNISM”, NAMES FRANCE AS “ONE COUNTRY ABOVE GOD”. BRITS SEEM PRETTY FULL OF THEMSELVES AS WELL. ONE SITE ON ONION MAP OF THE UK IS POINTED OUT AS “WHERE MICK JAGGER SHAGGED EVERYONE IN TOWN ONE NIGHT”. AND WATCH THE BEEB FOR ONE BRITISH HERO AFTER ANOTHER IN THEIR FINEST HOUR. AND EVEN LATER HOURS. NOTHING ABOUT OUR OR THE USSR’S HELP IN WW2. CANADIANS ARE THE NOT AMERICA, OR UN AMERICA, YET SCANDALS ARE CATCHING UP WITH THEIR PURITY, (BASED ON ADORATION OF ST FIDEL: CHECK OUT “REPORTER’S WITHOUT BORDERS MAP”). TURNS OUT THE MAYOR OF TORONTO IS HEADED TO JAIL ON COCAINE CHARGES, AND NASTY TAR SANDS OIL WILL BE SHIPPED TO THE HOLY EU. EVEN, THE HORROR, UNIMAGINED AND I AM QUITE SHOCKED THAT GAYS ARE BEING TAUNTED AND BASHED IN THE EU. NOT MY IMAGE OF LIBERAL YERPEANS. QUADAFFI WAS A GREAT BRAGGART AND CUTE TOO, WHEN HE WAS YOUNG. SORRY ABOUT FACTS. IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY BY FAR MORE WERE KILLED IN EASTERN GERMANY AND WESTERN RUSSIA, AS WRITTEN ABOUT IN A COMPLEX BOOK, “BLOODLANDS”, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ADD IN STALIN AND MAO’S MASS PURGES, INTENTIONAL STARVATIONS, MOSTLY IN USSR’S CASE THE UKRAINE. IN CHINA THE GANG OF FOUR; (HOLD UP FIVE FINGERS – ONE FOR MAO), IN THE HORRENDOUS CULTURAL REVOLUTION WHICH DESTROYED ANYTHING OLD I WOULD WANT TO GO THERE TO SEE. LOOK AT THE WHOLE WORLD. YES AMERICA SCREWS UP AND HAS KILLED PEOPLE FOR BAD REASONS. RAYGUNS, BUT OTHER COUNTRIES DO WORSE THINGS, KILL MORE.

AT LEAST TRY TO BE FAIR AND BALANCED. THEN YOU COULD GET A JOB ON MSNBC.

Much more effort is required now to distinguish between news and gossip; Scott Pelley is a reasonable compromise in that endeavor, with the polish of a good journalist, and the happy face of the latest gossip.

I think you are missing his point that he has now expounded on.He feels that there is a lot wrong with this presidency, and the road America is on.He sees that the press simply is not telling people how bad it really is.They dance around with a tap and a knock here and there.He wants a” sledge hammer”of truth reporting.Here here

Major problems have come to the fore and at least with the internet we can shift about and sort through what we choose instead of being slaves to the news industry which has been compromised beyond repair. My book – I’d Much Rather Laugh! How You Can Save America from Ridicule and Ruin goes into these and other areas of the downward spiral of our democracy and capitalism. http://www.couragetolaugh.com.

Not to mention the blainted disrespect that Mr. Pelley continues to demonstrate each time he or other journalist refer to our president of the United States as Mr. Obama. I have never heard any journalist refer to President Bush as Mr. Bush when he was on office. How about correcting that gross error and bringing some credibility back to your reporting.

[…] Journalists have a responsibility to share news they find with the world. With the ever changing face of the news world today, journalists now have more resources and a greater ability share what they’ve found. However, with the demand for speed and news, journalists have to be careful before firing off a tweet that isn’t verified or posting a video that hasn’t had it’s sources checked. Journalists are still watchdogs for the public; they just need to be more careful about the things they post when they’re trying to keep up with the rapid pace of the internet world. In fact, here is an article that discusses this issue… http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/05/15/the-problem-with-journalism-scott-pelley-blames-the-internet/ […]

I trust my evening news to discuss important events. Unless I missed it why have you not covered the situation regarding the Vets in Washington? I believe that is very important. If it was happening in another country I believe it would have been reported already. Don’t we owe our Vets some respect?